It’s about 10 AM and it has been quite a full day thus far.  Currently, I’m sitting on a small patio outside of our room.  A small boat is just now approaching the Skete with additional monastics and pilgrims.  I’ve finished my stint in the garden this morning which has afforded me a moment to write.  Josh and Harrison continue to sweep and prep the patio as Fr. Theophilos is expecting many visitors to the house this evening and tomorrow.  From what I gather, we will advance to the main dining hall around 7PM for dinner.  Then…the vigil begins at 8PM…lasting until about 11AM tomorrow morning.  I have nothing with which to compare it; all I know is that it will be a very long and most overwhelming evening.  After services all 500 or so of us will advance to the dining hall for a common meal (divided into three shifts) and then it will be our opportunity to return to the house, rest and welcome additional pilgrims to the Theophileon Brotherhood. 

It’s about 9:30 PM here at the Skete.  The day has recently come to a close with the Service of Great Compline.  Josh just finished uploading a writing on our travel website and is now talking to his father, Fr. Nectarios who is currently in Ghana on a mission trip with OCMC (technology is truly amazing).  Harrison washed dishes, started a fire in the furnace so that we have warm water for a shower, and fed the cats, now sits writing a list of those to be commemorated in Liturgy tomorrow morning at 5:30AM, celebrating the Feast of St. Christina the Great Martyr.  I sit in our guest room, having showered for the evening, getting ready to do a bit of reading, and take a few moments to write of our day.

I can’t say we awoke this morning as we decided after a wonderful dinner and evening with George Oikonomidis, whose family owns and works at one of the most acclaimed wood carving shops of Greece, that it was far too impractical to sleep as it was already close to midnight by the time that we returned to the hotel and after spending some time uploading files on our computers, we would have to be up in but in less than four hours to depart for Ouranopolis.  We were ready and waiting outside of our hotel by 5:30AM for Vangeli who had been asked to drive us to the port from which we would depart.  Unfortunately, Vangeli overslept as he didn’t receive an anticipated wake-up call, arriving to take us at close to 7AM.  We did however have time to walk to a bakery and to enjoy bougatsa (a Thessalonian delight).

The Formal Dining Hall used by the fathers of the Skete on the Great Feast of Church and of their community is located off the main church.  The iconography, as our pictures will attest, which ornates all the walls of the hall, took one year at the hands of ten monks who worked each and every day.  There is a beautiful icon of Agia Anna with the Theotokos enthroned upon her lap, which would serve as a beautiful backdrop in our sanctuary, probably where the Holy Relic of our matron would be placed.  The Resurrection icon was also striking, as was a most unique icon of the Archangel Michael defending the monks and the Holy Mount from the encroaching technology, depicted as a mechanical scorpion.

Our morning began at 4:30AM with a cheerful wake up call from Fr. Cheroubim who celebrates his birthday on this most beautiful feast of the Church.  By 4:45AM we were chanting a modified Orthros so that we could begin Liturgy by 5:30 AM.  After services, which were attended by beautifully chanted by a handful of brothers, we gathered for coffee and a sweet.

The next group of pilgrims has arrived at the Skete, many of them visiting for the Feast of a particular house within the community.  I was pleasantly surprised when an Athonite monk in the group began speaking English, granted with a bit of a Canadian accent as he was born and raised in Quebec.  I was even more surprised when one of the pilgrims approached me, thinking that I was an elder of the Skete!  A few words in Greek assured him that I was simply a visitor, far from a member of this community, let alone the Dikaios.

I may have written this elsewhere, but I remain most thrilled that Fr. Cheroubim does not believe that the desert should replace the world.  In other words, whether we are members of a parish or members of a monastic community, each remains valid and a unique setting in which salvation can be attained by the faithful.  Problems often arise when we cross over from one to another or when we identify with a particular extreme in either the world or the dessert.  The middle road, as he noted, is a good road to travel, and joyously so!

In a day and an age when many seek wise elders both on and off the Holy Mount, Fr. Cheroubim reminded us that true holiness is identified when an elder is easier on his spiritual children and harder on himself.  The spiritual father, he continued, of course challenges his charges, but remains most realistic of their abilities and gifts, knowing that God remains compassionate, judging the intent just as much as the thoughts, words, or deeds.

Dimitri travels to the Skete of Saint Anna from Kavala Greece for two weeks of the month.  His time in Kavala is spent driving a taxi and training (Dimitri is rated as one of the best kick-boxers in Northern Greece).  He offers his service to the monks each month with the hopes that Saint Anna will soften the hearts of his girlfriend’s parents, who aren’t approving of him for their daughter, Maria.  He remains confident though that Saint Anna will intercede on his behalf and that the prayers of the monks, not to mention his discipline of service, will avails much with the Lord.

Liturgy was attended by a small number of us in the Kyriakon on account of the vigil being kept at the chapel of the Three Hierarchs.  In all there were no more than ten of us.  All were familiar faces except for the celebrant and an elderly monk who joined us, Fr. Gabriel who is attached the chapel of Saint George at the Skete.